Is now the perfect moment for Peter Hitchener to choreograph an elegant step back from one of TV’s most scrutinised gigs?

After marking two major milestones this year, could the perfect moment be looming for beloved Melbourne newsreader Peter Hitchener to step back?

With two extraordinary milestones ticking over this year, could the perfect moment be looming for beloved Melbourne newsreader Peter Hitchener to choreograph the most elegant of step backs from one of TV’s most scrutinised gigs?

Channel 9 legend Hitchener, 77, is a great of the news reading game; a warm, comforting, steadfast figure who delivers the weeknight bulletin with charm, grace and empathy.

Hitchener marks 50 years with Nine this year and has been Nine’s Melbourne news anchor for 25 years.

Talk of when Hitchener would decide to hand over the news anchor baton has bubbled away in recent years, intensifying in December 2021 when Alicia Loxley was named as his ‘heir apparent’.

While no timeline was mentioned, it was confirmation of succession planning and that Nine realised there would come a day when its king of news would hand over his crown.

This year, 2023, is a significant year for Hitch, as he is known by many, with dual milestones of 50 years at Nine and 25 years as Melbourne news anchor.

Those milestone celebrations would make a nice bow to put on top of an illustrious career should he decide the time is right to step away as news anchor in 2024.

Peter Hitchener and Alicia Loxley from Channel 9. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Admittedly, such a decision would be seismic as Hitchener has been a constant in viewers’ lives for decades and newsreaders cultivate a trusting, reassuring and immensely valuable connection with their audience.

He has worked personality into a role that for decades saw newsreaders encouraged to be devoid of cheek or emotional reactions, embraced social media and been a tireless supporter of charities and community endeavours.

It is a job he loves.

Hitchener’s elevation to No1 in the news chair came in December 1998, following the retirement of fellow Nine news great Brian Naylor.

Sadly, Hitchener had to relay the news to viewers of Naylor’s tragic passing in the Black Saturday fires in February 2009.

In late 2021 Loxley was named as Hitchener’s heir apparent as Nine Melbourne’s chief newsreader, a move which saw him switch to reading the bulletin four nights a week, Monday - Thursday, from January 2022 with Loxley in the hot seat Friday to Sunday.

While Hitchener has never wanted to be the news, he has made his fair share of headlines over the decades.

A seagull walked across a real-time projection of the Melbourne cityscape behind Peter Hitchener's head during the 6pm bulletin.

Footage of a giant seagull walking behind him as he read a bulletin in 2009 went around the world. The bird had landed on the ledge that housed a camera that filmed Melbourne’s skyline as a live backdrop in the news studio.

A fly caused similar social media excitement when it perched on the lens of the camera in 2014.

He called in police in 2017 after being bombarded with abuse from a social media troll and in recent years he has been a target of pestering online behaviour from a celebrity obsessed nuisance who has also irritated theatre star Rhonda Burchmore.

In March 2021, Hitchener had to step away from reading the news mid bulletin after a migraine kicked in.

Should Hitchener decide to sign off from the newsdesk at the end of the year, it is hard to imagine he would not remain as an important member of the Nine family.

In Melbourne, for many, he is Nine.

Nine declined to comment on plans for its Melbourne bulletin in 2024 when contacted.

But Hitchener said on Saturday he had no plans to retire.

“To be absolutely clear, the first I heard of my so-called retirement was reading about it in @theheraldsun this afternoon,” he posted on Instagram.

“It is my great honour and a privilege to present the news, and I still hope to for a few more years.”